Article Idea:
Foundations of Interaction Design
suggested by David Heller on 2005/12/12
On my blog I have been playing with the subtle idea of “foundation” when it comes to Interaction Design (IxD). Industrial Design and Visual Design have foundational or core elements that are used to create a final form. While Interaction Design is not a “form” in the classic sense, and that form surrounds, and informs IxD, it is still a design method, which if educational systems, studio work, and just mastery of IxD can happen, it should have the same type of rigor.
In Industrial Design it has been said that there are 6 foundations: color, line, volume, space, texture, material.
I have been thinking mostly about “negative space” which can exist on multiple dimension, but usually best through the idea of time. Time itself while a core component does break down further though through pacing and dominance of posture.
The other two aspects that I have come up with so far include context and dialog.
Context can be environmental, situational, persona, etc.
Dialog is the communication between a system and humans that occurs in interactive systems.
The idea is that changing any one of these elements might effect how you might change the others, thus completing a completely new solution.
It is important that any foundations for IxD transcend medium, technology, or users.
Want to see this idea turned into a story?
3 people said yes. | 0 people said no.
Donna Maurer
165 Reputation points
Posted 2005/12/13 @ 14:06PM with
Interesting, but sounds like you still haven’t thought it right through. I find it impossible to write an article if I haven’t nailed ‘the answer’.
David Heller
2 Reputation points
Posted 2005/12/14 @ 04:14AM with
Do all articles have to be a complete idea? Can an article be the beginning of an idea that then engages the community to take it on?
Christina Wodtke
537 Reputation points
Posted 2005/12/14 @ 09:00AM with
That’s one advantage of the new “suggestions ” area—you can put something half-baked up, and get the community to help you think. Then, when you are ready, you can write the article.
Donna Maurer
165 Reputation points
Posted 2005/12/17 @ 05:07AM with
OK, so maybe one of us has misunderstood. I like the idea and think it interesting. My comment was just that, as I have written lots of articles, I know that it is impossible to write one until I really know what I think the answer is – suggesting that you will need to get there before you put pen to paper.
But then I wondered whether you were thinking of writing this yourself or throwing it out for someone else to tackle.
Austin Govella
483 Reputation points
Posted 2005/12/18 @ 14:56PM with
I agree with Donna, here. The idea is absolutely great. I’d love to read it.
At the same time, I agree that you cna leave it eneded, open a space for conversation, however, Donna’s right: if you don’t have your focus firmly nailed, it’ll end up too wishy-washy to be of any use, or to capture attention.